Liam Broady from Britain has shared his thoughts about Jannik Sinner’s doping ban, suggesting that the three-month penalty seems strategically timed to cause minimal disruption to the top-ranked player’s career.
The Italian tennis star agreed to a three-month suspension from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after a settlement was reached due to two positive drug tests the previous year.
At just 23, and already with an Australian Open win under his belt from January, Sinner’s ban runs from February 9 to May 4. This timing allows him to compete in the French Open, which starts on May 19, soon after his suspension ends.
Broady remarked to BBC Sport, “There’s been a lot of thought into the timing of Jannik’s ban. It seems designed to leave his career largely unaffected.”
The suspension conveniently ends just before the Rome Masters, an important tournament on home soil, setting Sinner up ideally for the French Open. Remarkably, he won’t lose any ranking points or his number one status, making the ban quite unusual.
Broady commented that some people compared it to a Premier League footballer facing a ban during the offseason: complex yet carefully timed.
Initially, an independent panel cleared Sinner of intentional wrongdoing after he tested positive for clostebol in March. WADA initially sought a much more severe punishment—a two-year ban—and even appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, they settled when it became clear the substance’s presence in Sinner’s system was accidental.
Ranked at 766, Broady admitted feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the decision, noting, “This ban hardly seems to cost him anything.”
He expressed concerns about possible favoritism towards top-tier players, saying, “It leaves me wondering, if another player faced the same issue, would the treatment be just as lenient?”
